1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking and, more particularly, a system and method of operating a rotisserie oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, placing a rotisserie assembly in a domestic oven is known in the art of cooking appliances. In typical arrangements, a rotisserie arm is positioned in an oven cavity for supporting food to be cooked. The rotisserie arm is typically driven by a motor which causes the rotisserie arm and food to rotate at a constant speed. In this known arrangement, the motor is switched off when the oven door is opened to stop the rotation of the rotisserie arm in order to baste or brown the food supported on the rotisserie arm. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,497, which discloses a cooking control system for rotisserie ovens, includes an assembly for driving a food supporting spit. When the oven door is opened, the rotisserie driving assembly is disabled. Similarly, each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,361,686 and 5,451,744 discloses a rotisserie oven wherein, when the oven door is opened, the motor is disabled. Conversely, when the door is again closed in each of these ovens, power is restored to the motor and the motor resumes operation.
When performing a rotisserie cooking operation, periodic basting of the food product being rotated may be desirable. Using these known constructions, only a single side of the food product would be exposed upon opening of the door such that, if a user wanted to baste all sides of the food product, the oven door would need to be repeatedly opened and closed in order to rotate the food for basting. Obviously, this is burdensome to the user and would require accuracy to open the door at precisely the correct time when the desired part of the food product to be basted is exposed. Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a cooking appliance having a rotisserie motor which can be operated even when the oven door is open.